Pensions: Little Hoover Commission urges overhaul

BENEFITS

Published 4:00 am, Friday, February 25, 2011

A government commission has recommended sweeping changes to state workers' pension benefits, including freezing the current plan and creating a more sustainable alternative.

The report by the Little Hoover Commission also recommended capping the maximum salary used to calculate benefits at $80,000 to $90,000, setting eligibility ages that do not encourage early retirements, and requiring that employees and employers share the costs of funding pension benefits.

"The only way to manage the growing size of California governments' growing liabilities is to address the cost of future, unearned benefits to current employees, which at current levels is unsustainable," the report states.

"This is one more clear example of why we need to remove collective bargaining when it comes to pensions, because the public employee unions are not going to agree to the reform that is needed," he said. "And quite frankly, the taxpayers are expecting us to address the situation, and if we don't, we're not going to solve our budget problems."

Officials from the governor's office were more circumspect:

"Our office is reviewing the Little Hoover Commission's findings. The governor agrees that California faces serious challenges, which is why he rolled out a comprehensive framework to reform pensions during his campaign," spokesman Evan Westrup said in a written statement.

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But Gov. Jerry Brown, in comments to the Legislature on Thursday, at least hinted at some areas he might be open to changing.

"I believe people should be working longer," said the 72-year-old governor. "I think institutional memory is a good thing. I don't have a problem extending how long people have to work."

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